Psychophysiology

Psycho- physiology deals with the relationships between psychological processes and the underlying physical features. It describes how emotions are related, changes in awareness and behavior with brain activity, circulation, respiration, motor activity and hormone secretion.

The field of psychophysiology can be determined by the subject of basic research, broken down by the major physiological function of systems or by the applications. Key topics include emotions and the stress response, changes in consciousness, relaxation, rest and sleep. The cognitive psychophysiology examines how the information is processed at a sensory stimulus or cognitive tasks. Pain responses and the interoceptive (Latin inner perception ) of body functions such as heart palpitations, muscle tension, are analyzed in order to understand how physical complaints arise and can be affected. The question of the physiological and genetic basis of certain personality characteristics draws on the ancient teachings about the constitution, conformation and temperament. In clinical psychology and psychiatry psycho- physiology contributes to new explanatory models and treatments.

History

The term psychophysiology was coined by the German psychiatrist Christian Friedrich Nasse (1778-1851) and overlaps not only in historical terms with the then also commonly used concept of psychophysics. The neurologist and psychiatrist Hans Berger (1873-1941), the (EEG ) is a pioneer of Electroencephalography, stressed that it arrives in the psychophysiology of the equality psychological and physiological methods. The conceptual history of psychophysiology, neuropsychology and biopsychology in the border area of different disciplines reflects the confrontation, which was conducted in psychology and psychiatry in the 19th century between Psychikern and Somatikern and extends to the present day. There are different philosophical views, whether consciousness and brain activity can mutually interact, if it is only around two sides of the same psycho-physical process, or whether they are two different, but complementary, complementary descriptions of brain functions. These different conceptions of the mind-body problem or the psychophysical correlation can influence the theories and methods of selection of the scientists.

Since the mid-19th century, the pulse, respiration, and later the blood pressure, the electrical activity of the heart (electrocardiogram, ECG) and brain activity ( electroencephalogram, EEG ), it was possible to record during an emotion or during a brainteaser. The simultaneous registration of various physiological changes, polygraphy (Greek frequent case), is typical of this line of research. Psychophysiology can be one of the fundamental disciplines of behavioral medicine, behavioral therapy, work psychology, among others Application fields are considered.

Basics

Levels of description

Emotions, stress ( stress), waking and sleeping, as well as many other state changes can be described at several levels:

In the immediate experience, for example, with a strong anger at an event or in states of anxiety, these aspects seem to form a unit. However, research has shown that there are no rigid connections, but coupling and decoupling of components. An intense feeling of fear is not so regularly by a corresponding anxiety behavior (avoidance behavior) or a physically measurable vegetative and hormonal physiology fear accompanied.

Psychophysiological activation, reactivity and reaction patterns

Activation and individual reactivity are two central concepts of psychophysiology. The preamble activation includes, inter alia, Emotions, excitement, tension, strain, overwork (stress -strain responses ) and motivational states. In the orienting response to a stimulus or during the request to make a speech and - possibly during an extreme state of anxiety - usually shows a marked physical reaction compared to a resting phase. In psychophysiological studies involving up to 20 measurements, the typical pattern of the alarm reaction was described. These include: the increase in subjective alertness and tension, increase in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory activity of sweat and electrical conductivity of the skin ( electrodermal activity ), the muscular tension and an increasing excretion of certain hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, cortisol and growth hormone. In contrast, decrease blood flow and skin temperature. In addition, the EEG and immunological characteristics change. This alarm reaction is biologically useful because it prepares the body for fight or flight, fight -or -flight. In response behavior but there are individual differences, because individuals may react more strongly with the blood pressure, the muscle tension or in another organ system. As the reactivity of enduring property of a person is called to respond to stimuli and pressures regularly with a stronger or weaker pronounced activation.

Emotions

Emotions such as anger, fear, joy, can usually be distinguished well in their facial expression patterns, but without the corresponding physiological differences in vegetative- endocrine area or in the EEG. The psychophysiological investigation results remained unsatisfactory despite a very large research effort. Although emotions cause significant changes compared to the rest, but are not characteristic patterns observed. Many biologically oriented researchers still keep firmly in mind that the brain neurobiological programs are created for basal emotions. Another important finding of the laboratory tests is that the subjectively experienced intensity of tension, stress ( stress ) is hardly related to the objectively measured degree of physiological changes. These facts follow theoretical and practical implications, for example for diagnosis and therapy.

Interoception

Many bodily functions and functional irregularities can not be perceived or only in a very restricted manner. Few people can spontaneously feel her heartbeat and reasonably reliable count. The body perceptions are influenced by the particular situation of the suspected causes and other conditions. Especially in chronic diseases, the severity of the symptoms and the objective medical findings agree often do not match. Physical complaints must therefore be interpreted only in the context of the entire disease behavior.

Cognitive processes

If the brain responds to sensory stimuli or motor-driven action is being prepared, the operations from forming in the EEG. The induced effects that evoked potentials and readiness potentials, allow location and a time- very accurate insight how this information is processed. In addition, lead changes in consciousness, relaxation, monotony or different sleep stages to typical EEG changes. These cortical psychophysiology because of the brain's electrical findings is an important direction of neuroscience in addition to the imaging techniques that can also show the activity in deeper, subcortical brain structures.

Personality Traits

In addition to the morphological individuality of the physique, there is also a relatively enduring biochemical and vegetative- endocrine individuality of the people who determine the constitution of man along with inborn function weaknesses and predispositions to disease. The search for the biological basis of certain personality traits or temperament began in medicine from antiquity with the doctrine of the four humors. Later relationships with the physique, blood groups, certain hormones have been claimed, but not yet reliably detected. Nevertheless, this research is continued from the conviction that the constitution and temperament must have a common basis in the brain or in the genetic makeup of the individual. Great influence on the newer psychophysiology, the British psychologist Hans Jürgen Eysenck. He claimed that the personality trait emotionality have a biological basis in the vegetative- endocrine reactivity and the personality trait of introversion and extraversion in different central nervous excitability. If these relationships are not saved when the current state of research, which does not exclude that in the future are to find positive results with other methods. Neuroendocrine and immunological studies with a view of Eysenck's theory of personality show with both positive and negative findings, a complicated picture.

Many psychophysiological studies were either the so-called type A behavior, which is characterized by achievement motivation, assertiveness, aggressive tendencies, or the pronounced tendency to often resent without express those emotions clearly. The former was considered to be at increased risk for coronary heart disease and heart attack, the latter as a risk for the development of high blood pressure. Extensive methods and critical studies showed no or only slight and therefore meaningless in practice contexts.

Areas of application

In many areas, concepts and methods of psychophysiology have proven theoretically and practically fruitful. At work, the physical, mental and emotional stress can be captured to improve work processes, pause control, job design. Chronic exposure is considered a contributory cause of some diseases, including of hypertension, viewed and can have a negative impact on many other diseases. In clinical psychology and psychiatry helps the psychophysiological perspective to develop more accurate models of explanation, such as anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, borderline personality disorder and other psychiatric illnesses.

During the behavioral psychophysiological methods are used to detect treatment advances thoroughly. In practice, widespread is also the sleep laboratory, the use of psychophysiological methods for the diagnosis of sleep disorders. In the therapeutic range, psycho- physiologically -based relaxation techniques have been proven, with the exercises, eg be supported by non-specific feedback of decreased breathing or muscle tension. In contrast, only the measurement value of the disturbed body function is confirmed visually or audibly when biofeedback to the reduction of symptoms such as lowering blood pressure, specific learning. Biofeedback has in practice - with some exceptions - not so successful, as was originally assumed.

Of great practical importance is the ambulatory monitoring for the diagnosis and regular monitoring of bodily functions and symptoms in everyday life, to detect and adjust the dose of medication or to detect treatment advances critical changes in patients at risk. The 24 -hour monitoring of ECG and blood pressure are indispensable routine methods, because they form directly in a convincing manner the reactivity in daily life from, which are important in the diagnosis and treatment.

Methods

In most psychophysiological studies bloodless methods are exclusively non-invasive, are used. These include: EEG electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram ECG (heart rate ), blood pressure, respiration, temperature, perspiration and electrical conductivity of the skin, bodily- motor activity and specific movement patterns, voice activity. Using saliva samples can be determined whether to change the levels of the hormone cortisol. In contrast, other hormonal and immunological determinations require a blood sample. With the out-patient assessment and monitoring new, practice-oriented study approaches have been developed.